by David Anderson
It is Christmas Eve, the night when God comes for us, comes in the only way we could receive God-with-us. If the infinite God is to reach us finite humans, there will have to be some translation, some accommodation. And all the work will have to be on God’s part. There is an affecting story, […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Grace, Gratitude, Love, Mercy
The church is “obsessed” with abortion, homosexuality and birth control. That comment by Pope Francis a few days ago made global headlines. It’s no mistake that all three bugbears are physical, of the body, sexual. Little-mind religion seizes on the carnal sins and makes avoiding them a cardinal virtue. That’s because it is mostly preoccupied […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Awareness, Forgiveness, Grace, Mercy
This week was a rattler. The bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon sent a ripple through our nerves, through our families and communities. I heard from people whose children were there, a block or two from the finish line, heard the explosions, ran for dear life. Walked miles and miles to get […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Fear, Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Love, Mercy
Palm Sunday is also known as the Sunday of the Passion, and since we’re big into passion (as in “What are you passionate about?”) we might assume that this is the moment when Jesus gets really charged up and busy doing a lot of incredible things. Passion comes from the Latin “passio” which means “suffering,” […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Grace, Letting Go, Mercy, Surrender
I lit a fire in the hearth this morning and turned on the lights of the bare Christmas tree. It was six a.m., cold outside with a grey morning light. Nine days before Christmas Eve. Twenty little children have been killed in their classrooms, festooned with holiday decorations and happily cluttered with Christmas crafts. I […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Change, Community, Faith in Action, Forgiveness, Grace, Healing, Mercy, Repentance
Many of the people who come to me with a problem or difficulty are struggling with their own imperfection, their own brokenness. We are so hard on ourselves. We can perhaps forgive others, but we cannot forgive ourselves. I know this problem from the inside. I’m a recovering perfectionist. I want things to be perfect […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Forgiveness, Grace, Healing, Letting Go, Mercy
I had breakfast yesterday morning with a friend from seminary. She was telling me about a leadership conference that she had recently hosted. Pastors of thriving congregations had come to speak, but for her one stood out. It was a man we both knew and admired. “Gary told us about a failure,” she said. “All […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Fear, Grace, Happiness, Letting Go, Mercy
On this anniversary of 9/11 the papers are full of stories about fisticuffs over the memorial at ground zero. It’s NYC and Bloomberg versus NY and Cuomo, fighting over who gets to control the memorial, who has to pay for it (it costs $60 million a year to maintain). This is about all the little […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Healing, Letting Go, Mercy